


suppose i kept on singing love songs just to break my own heart

by justsomejerk



Series: Kybel Rising [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Dealing With Trauma, Discussions of Caulfield and Noah, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mentions of Panic Attacks, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes (Background), Nightmares, POV Kyle Valenti, Post-S1, Rosa is bisexual because I say so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 03:00:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20959355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justsomejerk/pseuds/justsomejerk
Summary: After their intense night together in Austin, Isobel and Kyle navigate having a relationship back home, including trauma, triggers, and disapproving loved ones.





	suppose i kept on singing love songs just to break my own heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is considerably less smutty than the first part of my Kybel series and for that, I apologize. 
> 
> Unbeta'd.
> 
> Title is from Regina Spektor's _Fidelity_.

Isobel and Kyle surprise virtually everyone they know by quickly becoming the most stable couple in their social circle. Yet, despite appearing perfectly in sync from the outside, they spend a few months navigating the strange new intimacy they share while not knowing one another particularly well. It involves a lot of tentative goodnight kisses in doorways and stiff dinners at fancy restaurants that don’t go over nearly as well as Kyle thought they would. A few of these dates go by before Isobel gets Arturo’s permission to drag him onto the roof of the Crashdown for a night of pizza and wine under the stars. That’s when they both realize she has no interest in recreating her previous life by slotting her new charming, successful doctor boyfriend into the space left vacant by Noah; they will need to create something entirely new and all their own.

They don’t have sex again until the day she brings him out to the pods for the first time since Max’s resurrection. She recounts everything she remembers about those early days, while he talks about his dad and his childhood adventures with Alex. They spend hours cuddled up in blankets on the cave floor, drinking wine from mason jars and the night ends with Isobel riding him, boots on and dress bunched up around her chest. Kyle often finds himself thinking back to her face above him that night, moaning animalistically, the way her long hair glowed iridescent and how her skin looked in the unearthly light of the pod she came from. It is the first time he looks at her and truly understands that she is from somewhere else. 

It's also the first time he knows he is completely and irrevocably in love with her. 

Being at ease with sex and intimacy again doesn’t come all at once though; it happens in fits and starts as they fumble into familiarity and effective communication. Sometimes she starts crying uncontrollably while Kyle is eating her out; she has a panic attack once during penetration. Out at lunch with Kyle and her mother, Noah's old law partner stops by their table and offers a kind anecdote about how many guests at Ranchero Night comment on missing Noah at the Pony. For two weeks afterwards, she has nightmares about each of his victims dying under the same hands that used to touch her so lovingly. Kyle stays with her every night, running her hot baths and coming up with mantras for her to repeat upon waking as he synchronizes their breathing. He harasses Alex, Michael and Max into stopping by during the days she’s not working to distract her. Alex increases the time they spend practicing self-defence together, and Isobel starts coming home exhausted mentally and physically. The nightmares dwindle until they become only a vague memory. 

Shortly afterwards, Kyle starts having his own nightmares. At first, when she is awakened by his screams, he only tells her they're about Caulfield and she holds him until he falls asleep again. But after a few nights of the same thing, when he is finished thrashing around in bed and can focus enough to see the outline of her haunted face staring at his in the dark, he realizes this is different.

“You were screaming my name. Screaming at your dad to stop hurting me.” She says it blankly, uncertain.

He doesn’t respond. He turns his back to sit on the edge of the bed and lets his head fall into his hands, wishing he’d just told her to sleep at her own place tonight. He doesn’t want her dealing with this. 

“Kyle?” She sounds scared. 

He squeezes his eyes shut. “I’m sorry. I’m fine. Go back to sleep.” He feels the bed shifting, and her hands are snaking around his abdomen. She rests her chin on his shoulder, her thighs pressed up around him and wraps him up in her unusual body heat, a thin silk camisole the only layer separating them. 

“Kyle, I’m right here. I’m here with you, right now.” She keeps her voice soft but steady and plants open-mouthed kisses along his shoulders slowly, keeping herself pressed close around him to feel for the tension as it gradually leaves his body. “I’m safe because of you. You and Alex ended Project Shepherd. We’re all safe now  _ because of you _ . No one is going to hurt me. Or you, or any of us.” She continues speaking low for a long time, reassuring him, reminding him they’re here together and safe. She leaves lingering kisses at the nape of his neck and tries desperately to pull him even closer to her, to pull him inside, where he can be nestled in a safe place surrounded by her softness and away from the ghosts haunting him. 

Tears are leaking out of his closed eyes. He’s supposed to be the strong one. He exhales sharply before he speaks again. 

“I’m in love with you, and I’m so fucking scared.”

Every part of her body that's been melting into his for comfort stiffens. For a few seconds, they both hold still, frozen under the spell Kyle's words cast over them. 

Then he feels her moving, pulling herself away from him and he hates himself just a little bit for saying anything at all. He keeps his eyes shut as he feels her back away and move off the bed. After only a few seconds of the warm stale emptiness of the room rushing in to meet him, her hands are covering his, pulling them away from where they are clutching his own hair in a panicked grip. He opens his eyes to see her kneeling before him, pulling his hands to lay on her chest. 

“I'm scared too. I've never loved anyone as much as I love you." It's the first time they've both said those words. They allow the moment to stretch on, the fear at speaking the sentiment aloud dissipating and thawing into a cozy warmth they bask in together. 

She breaks the silence by continuing: "But that means we're together in this, no matter what.” She gives him a small smile. “Besides, it's kinda comforting knowing I'm not the only hot mess in this relationship.”

He rolls his eyes at her uncanny ability to cut through a heavy moment with gentle mockery. “Would we really call me a hot mess?”

Pushing off her heels, she straightens so they’re eye-to-eye and gives him a look of faux disbelief. “You're the one having nightmares about your alien-hunter father imprisoning and dissecting your sexually traumatized yet  _ amazing _ alien girlfriend, and then trying to hide it from said girlfriend in a misguided attempt to avoid intimacy.”

He takes in her arch response with an amused half-smile. She takes his left hand and pulls it to her mouth, laying a slow, gentle kiss on the palm. Where she is still holding his right hand to her chest, he spreads his fingers out one by one, watching them splay across her bare skin curiously, some reaching below the neckline of her thin lingerie top. Not laying claim, but being welcomed into somewhere safe. He catches her eye. “You really know how to hit me where it hurts, Evans.”

She tilts her head fondly, but remains otherwise still as he continues laying gentle pressure on her chest. “Kyle?” He makes a low noise to indicate he’s listening, but doesn’t look away from his own hand on her body, as if hypnotized. “You have more experience with healthy relationships than I do, but I do know it’s meant to involve  _ you _ leaning on  _ me _ the same way I’ve been leaning on you."

“I know.” He says it low but with conviction. He doesn’t look her in the eye.

“Babe, you know I’m the one who would leave a handprint on  _ you _ and not vice versa, right?

“Hmm?” After a moment, he realizes what she said and drops his hand. “Touching you... helps. It grounds me.” A faint blush of pink reaches his cheeks as he admits it.

“Then by all means.” She says it low, with an arched eyebrow. They stare into one anothers’ eyes for a few heavy moments before they are surging into one another, lips meeting as they both clumsily hurry to their feet to press their bodies together at every possible point of contact, kissing with an utter desperation. His hands are frantically roaming her jaw, down across her collarbone, over her breasts and eventually up and down her back, as they kiss deeply and feverishly. Her fingers clutch fistfuls of his hair, grown out longer than ever, in an iron grip, keeping him exactly where she wants him. 

As she presses her tongue in deep and guides them over to press up against the far wall of the bedroom, he shoves her silky lingerie down over her thighs and two fingers quickly ghost over the already-wet heat between her legs. Even in his needy state, with his hard cock twitching against her bare thigh, already desperate to be inside her, he doesn’t miss a chance to sink two fingers in and curl them up in the way he knows leaves her flustered. She moans into his mouth, momentarily loosening her fierce hold on his hair. He takes advantage of her distracted state by pinning her back to the wall and shoving a knee in between her thighs, her legs parting eagerly. After a dozen thrusts, he removes his fingers and shoves them in her mouth. She moans as she sucks them in deep, tasting herself. She can feel his other hand working himself and she proceeds to do the same. 

The raw sounds of spit and sucking and mutual pleasure surround them for long charged moments until she nudges her head to the side, his fingers sliding out. She uses only an eager tongue to seek out his thumb, proceeding to lick it into her mouth, coating it enough that when she releases him, he thrusts his fingers into her rougher and deeper, rubbing his dripping thumb directly over her clit. She throws her head back and up towards the ceiling, eyes closed, and jerks her hips forward with his movements as high keening noises escape her while he coaxes out her first orgasm of the night. God, he loves that he has the power to take apart the perfectly put-together poise of Isobel Evans. He has never considered himself possessive, but he can't deny the territorial thrill he feels knowing he's the only one who gets to enjoy her this way. The only one who can bring her to this blissed-out and entirely unrestrained state. 

“Isobel, look at me.” His commanding tone startles her back to reality. As a rule, that tone is strictly for  _ her _ use in the bedroom, but the eager pleasure in her eyes when she locks eyes with him means she is allowing the exception. He places his free hand along her jaw, holding her in place as he speaks, “Do you want me to fuck you pinned up against this wall until you’re screaming my name?”

Her heavy-lidded eyes gleam dark as she breathlessly responds, “I thought you’d never ask.” She isn’t even finished speaking before he gets his hands wrapped around the backs of her thighs and he is lifting her up, coaxing her legs to wrap securely around his waist. Before long he’s pushing into her and they groan together. He lets her cradle his head as it falls into the crook of her neck, while she whispers the filthiest demands into his ear. He starts thrusting, snapping his hips as she squeezes her arms around him tightly, pulling him in deeper and surrounding him. She digs her coral-coloured manicure down his back, making sure to leave marks he’ll find in the morning. Eventually she gives him exactly what he asked for - as she feels release nearing, she cries out his name over and over. When he follows a few minutes later, he whispers her name hoarsely into her ear. 

***

From the beginning, Kyle happily handed over the reigns of control in their relationship to Isobel and got used to verbally requesting consent in all situations. Not to mention letting the orgasm ratio between them tilt  _ greatly _ in her favour. Which is why the past few weeks leading up to their one year anniversary have been so unexpected for him. Isobel suddenly decided to throw herself into changing said ratio, starting with showing up in a trenchcoat to fuck him in his office chair at the hospital, to waking him up with her mouth already sucking his half-hard cock down her throat most days of the week, to coming home from agonizingly long surgeries to find her naked in his bed armed with edible massage oil and a hunger to do  _ all _ the work. 

And as amazing as it's been, Kyle is  _ tired _ . He can't claim to have the refractory period of an alien, something he wishes he didn't know about but when you spend enough time around a couple as shameless as Michael and Alex, you stumble onto all kinds of information about alien biology and anatomy you wish you hadn’t. He's always been silently grateful Isobel has avoided commenting on the wait between sex sessions she never had to endure with Noah. Besides, Kyle thinks he's done a pretty decent job of distracting her from the wait on most occasions. 

It had been a rare light day at work, and now he’s sitting in his SUV in front of Isobel’s condo, trying to guess what sex games Isobel has in store for them tonight. The tone of her texts informing him when to show up tonight became increasingly stern as the day wore on, betraying that she had  _ something _ planned. It will include some kind of fancy lingerie, and probably a callback to some significant moment in their relationship. Isobel is always amazing at that sort of thing. She’s a planner, and remembers every detail. Kyle smiles to himself as he opens his car door and heads inside. Life is  _ good _ these days.

As soon as he unlocks her door with the key she’d casually tossed his way awhile back (“Just for when you’re getting in so late after surgery, you know...” while he’d rolled his eyes fondly at her attempted casualness) he finds himself assaulted by a symphony of floral scents. He blinks once and realizes just how many surfaces in the tiny condo are covered in peonies. 

His girlfriend’s body included. Somewhat, anyway. Isobel is perched on her kitchen table across from the front door, legs crossed primly, putting herself on display wearing sheer violet-coloured panties and an extravagant matching bra decorated with two giant flowers sculpted from stiff cloth to strategically cover her nipples. Sitting beside her is a silver vase containing the purple and green peonies from their first night together in Austin.

Kyle can’t keep from leaning his head back against the front door and gloating at how easily he’d predicted this over-the-top and incredibly sexy gesture.

She arches a single eyebrow, not saying a word as she sits up a little straighter, uncrosses her legs and begins to spread them slowly.

“Jesus, babe!” Now he dashes across the space between them, his fatigue dropping away as he smooths his hands over the tops of her bare thighs and leans in to give her a lingering kiss with a hint of tongue.

As he pulls away, she gives a satisfied hum and leans back on palms. “How was work?”

He laughs as his hands start roaming her body up her sides. He strokes down her arms, grabs her hands and pulls her forward to lean into him. “I can’t remember right now.”

She gives him a satisfied smile, a foot rubbing against his right calf as she straightens her neck and purses her lips, inviting him to meet her halfway. He does, and they kiss lazily for a few minutes, hands slowly exploring their outer layers of clothing before it comes to a natural end and they rest their foreheads together breathing in sync. 

He idly works a finger under one of her bra straps and, without looking her in the eyes, speaks up, “As much as I want you right now, I’m pretty exhausted. I was hoping we could just relax tonight. Watch some TV.”

“I’m definitely planning on getting you  _ very _ relaxed, Valenti.” She slips her hands down past the waistband of his scrubs and plants them on his ass, squeezing each cheek for good measure.

His eyes slip closed for a second before he responds, “I was thinking the non-sexual kind of relaxing.”

Her expression falls. “Oh. Okay.” Her hands leap out of his pants and automatically jump to smooth out the lines of a shirt she isn’t wearing. She tries to turn the gesture into something vaguely seductive by dragging her hands down her own abdomen to her hips, but she already knows she’s been caught in one of her tells.

Kyle tilts his head and chuckles. “You know your voice just jumped to an octave only dogs can hear, right?”

She responds with a prim, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” before using her hands as leverage to hop off the table and push past him without looking him in the eye. 

Kyle catches her arm as she tries to duck away and spins her around playfully until he's got his arms locked around her shoulders. "Babe, what's going on? And don't avoid answering by putting your hands down my pants. I know your game, blondie." She looks at him with wide eyes, fluttering her lashes, and raises her hands in the air to prove her innocence. “The past few weeks have been amazing. But something provoked this change, I just want to know what it is.”

Isobel stares at him stubbornly for a moment before she sighs. “Let’s sit down.” He lets his arms fall and their hands find each other as she leads him to the black leather couch. They sit, Isobel angled towards him and wringing her hands. “Your mom had me over for dinner two weeks ago.” Catching the frown on his face, she quickly continues, “I didn’t tell you because I was nervous. She wanted to talk to me alone. I knew she didn’t like me, but… I didn’t realize she hated me.” 

He reaches out to rub her back, preparing for a familiar conversation they’ve been having since Kyle introduced her to his mom as his girlfriend seven months ago. “Iz--” 

“No, Kyle. Let me finish. She said she doesn’t trust me. That I’m not good for you.” Her eyes fill with tears as she speaks and Kyle moves closer, reaching out his free hand to squeeze her knee.

“I didn’t know. I’ll talk to her.”

“No, don’t. Her mind is made up. It’s just.. I know how close you are, how much you respect her opinion. And I know I’m not easy to be with. I’ve done terrible things and I need to control everything. And with so many people in your life still warning you away from me-”

This time Kyle doesn’t let her finish. “Iz, no. Stop. No one is warning me away from you. Liz, Maria, Rosa, they all get it now and they’re happy for us. My mom.. she’s just always seen you as putting on a performance. She knows you do it with her too, and it makes her feel like she can’t trust you. But that’s  _ her _ problem, okay?” He holds her gaze, his hands now cradling her face. “You know I’ve never let her opinions influence how I feel about you. I know you better than anyone - even Max - and I love every part of you.” 

She looks into his eyes and smiles through her tears. "It’s not just that. I’ve been thinking a lot, with our anniversary coming up. So much of our relationship has been focused on me and making sure I’m comfortable. You let me control everything and I love you for it, but I think I’ve gotten selfish. I think I’ve neglected to take care of you." As she speaks, she coaxes one of his hands between her palms and starts massaging it, a habit she's picked up in recent months now that his surgery schedule has ramped up. 

He knows this is a sore spot for her, feeling selfish and unworthy of him. The way Liz, Maria and Rosa had reacted to the news of their relationship still seemed to eat away at her sometimes. Maria made it clear she thought it was something casual that would fall apart because Kyle would tire of Isobel's need to keep up appearances sooner rather than later. But Liz and Rosa's objections hurt more because Isobel truly thought they'd become friends. Kyle had never told her the worst of what they'd said - that she wasn't kind or compassionate enough to deserve him. That she was too callous to be good to him. In an ugly moment, Rosa told him Isobel was too damaged and traumatized to be worth the effort and she would use him to heal, then leave him behind when she was done. After she'd apologized, she admitted that she may have been projecting some of her own fears onto him, considering her newfound feelings for Steph, the investigative reporter who showed up in town talking about alien conspiracy theories that contained a bit too much truth. 

Thankfully, Michael and Alex made up for it by delighting completely in the news of their romance. Isobel was concerned Michael would be a grump about it, thanks to the tension between him and Kyle, but it turns out couples therapy with his boyfriend was helping him with communication beyond just his own relationship. When Isobel and Kyle showed up hand-in-hand at the cabin on a Sunday morning, Michael greeted the news by hugging her close and softly murmuring, “I love you so much.” Beside them on the porch, Alex smirked in Kyle’s apprehensive face and said, “Chill. I respect your choices,” before dragging his unsuspecting friend in for a hug. As Alex shuffled everyone into the cabin for breakfast, he shook his head while grinning and commented, “I can’t believe I got stuck with two best friends falling for each other. You’re both gonna be insufferable.”

He almost smiles at the memory, but instead his eyes shutter involuntarily at Isobel's touch and he lets out a soft groan as she kneads into his aching hand. “Iz, I've never felt neglected with you.”

“Well, I'm gonna make sure it stays that way.” There's a teasing lilt to her voice, though he knows it's a promise she intends to keep. She is nothing if not ruthlessly single-minded in caring for her small circle of loved ones. 

Later, after a lazy night of reality TV and takeout, they're tangled up together in bed in pyjamas with her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, and he is playing a soft slow rhythm with his fingers along her arm. 

“You know what you said about our relationship being so focused on you?” Isobel hums in response, snuggling just a bit closer. “Everything I've done, I've done because I want to. I'm not being self-sacrificial. Making you feel safe and loved and heard? There's nothing better than that.”

Isobel smiles against his chest and lifts herself up to straddle him, leaning over him to plant kisses down his neck and bare chest between each word for emphasis, "Dr. McSexy, you are the greatest human." She peeks up at his face from where she finishes, hovering above his abdomen, and sees his wide smile. She playfully gives his belly button a lick and plants her palms firmly over his hips. "Truly. I have no notes. There are no improvements to be made concerning this particular specimen." 

He is chuckling now, and props himself up on his elbows to meet her gaze head-on. "I think your people reached the pinnacle of their capabilities with you. But only after they fucked up with Max and Michael and had to start over."

They both crack up, and Isobel cries out, "I'm gonna tell them you said that!" before taking advantage of the moment to pull up her palms and start tickling at her boyfriend's most sensitive spot - the adonis belt he works so hard to achieve at the gym. The muscles underneath her teasing fingers start twitching and Kyle curls up, laughing against his own will, reaching for her hands to stop her but only coming up against the invisible mental forcefield she's been learning to project recently, allowing her to torture him to her hearts content. 

"That's cheating, blondie!" He manages to cry out in between gasping, stuttering breaths before she allows the forcefield to fall and he lunges for her waist, her arms thrown into the air. She shrieks with laughter as he pins her down between his strong thighs and pulls her wrists over her head, securing them tightly one-handed while his right hand continues tickling her abdomen and side, growing lighter and lighter until her laughter and resistance has faded into soft hums as he strokes the bare skin of her belly. 

She has her eyes closed now, a soft peaceful expression on her face, as he continues his soft touch, his body covering hers, restraining her. After another minute, he finds himself coming back to the reality of their position and asks, "Is this okay?" 

She opens her eyes slowly, a languid smile spreading across her face as she responds quietly, "It's perfect."

"Perfect?" He asks, wondering where this is going. They've gotten more adventurous sexually over time, but with the exception of the nights Kyle had nightmares, they haven't strayed beyond the power dynamic of him submitting to her will. He's always had an open mind when it comes to sex, but he's rarely ventured into kinky territory before this relationship, and it's been exciting to find this whole new avenue of possibilities for getting off. Yet they've never broached the subject of role reversal. 

She sighs, not unhappily but with a hint of satisfaction. "I've been thinking. Maybe we should try something new." Without offering any resistance to the hand gripping her wrists to the mattress or the knees shoving her legs together, she arches her back underneath him. “I don't always have to be in control. Not with you.”

Body frozen in place, staring down at Isobel's hooded eyes, he pauses before carefully responding, “This sounds like a conversation we should have with more clothes on. In daylight.”

With a ghost of a smirk behind her smile, she softly responds, “I'd like that.”

***

That Sunday, Michael and Alex host a small get together out at the cabin. They tend to switch host duties between themselves and Max and Liz since Isobel sold the house she once shared with Noah to start over in a condo. Maria, Jenna and her little sister Charlie are constant fixtures at their parties nowadays, as were Rosa and Steph before they moved to Santa Fe together four months ago, where Rosa is enrolled in art school and Steph works at a local paper. 

As they walk around to the back of the cabin, Isobel quickly kisses his cheek and hustles off to Alex's side on the porch where he and Michael are barbecuing, leaving him to survey the scene in front of him. 

Liz and Jenna are huddled together chatting, with Max and Charlie standing a few feet away, Max clearly trying to make small talk with the young woman who remains ill at ease in the small town eager to judge her reputation as a whistleblower. He narrows his eyes when he sees Maria with Flint Manes of all people, drinking beer at a large rectangular table that is certainly big enough that they don't need to lean their heads together in such an intimate way. Kyle's refusal to fully trust Flint has become a point of contention with both Alex and Isobel; she always sighs loudly in frustration when he complains about Alex making up with his brother and reminds him what Flint did for them. Kyle knows that he came down on their side in the end. He tried desperately to save the remaining aliens at the other facility they located, and all he got for his trouble was a bullet in the back, thanks to his father, and a healing handprint from a dying alien whose name no one managed to get. But Kyle stubbornly holds onto his distrust, even though Maria has assured him she's read his aura and he's truly changed. His nightmares about Caulfield are still too clear in his mind to truly accept Flint's remorse. 

He hears a familiar voice call his name from behind him and he turns to see his sister rushing towards him with arms open, Steph hanging back and smiling as she watches the siblings hug fiercely. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming for a visit? I would have changed my schedule so we could spend more time together!" He moves to give his sister’s girlfriend a quick hug too. 

"It's called a surprise,  _ hermano _ ." Rosa rolls her eyes and she playfully shoves his shoulder and they move further into the backyard to greet the others. He watches Rosa walk towards Liz hand in hand with Steph, leaning into her, whispering something in her ear. Steph brings their linked-together hands up to her mouth and presses a soft kiss there just as Liz spots them, her face lighting up. 

He's so glad Steph came along when she did. Building a relationship with Rosa was an awkward and strange process, especially when most people couldn't know who she really was. It was only when she confided in him about her feelings for Steph that he truly felt like a big brother, dispensing advice and providing assurances about her bisexuality. Lightly joking about Isobel being the first girl she'd ever been attracted to and the strange decade of events that led to her newfound half-brother being in a relationship with her instead. 

It helped when Steph stumbled onto the truth about aliens via Project Shepherd and her first instinct was to safeguard their secret and go to her editor with apologies that her silly ideas about aliens really were nothing more than conspiracy theories. That was when they truly welcomed her into the fold and Rosa felt comfortable pursuing a relationship with her. 

Kyle loves these afternoons. The fact that they managed to band together to protect each other as a group despite the complicated history of lies, trauma and romantic entanglements between them is a miracle in his mind. After helping himself to a beer, hugging Maria and giving Flint a terse nod of his head, he glances back at the deck and sees Isobel and Michael have disappeared. 

He is chatting with Max and Charlie - his attempts at friendship with Max have been shaky and awkward at best, but Max is clearly determined to at least pretend they like each other for his sister's sake - when he realizes what is going on. When Michael and Isobel reappear on the deck, Alex's back turned, Michael is looking noticeably more put-together and his curls have been tamed, albeit only slightly. Isobel is picking lint off his collar as he tries to jerk out of her reach, and Kyle's eyes zero in on the small black jewelry box he quickly slips into his pocket. He sees Isobel scan the backyard for him as Michael ducks away to wrap his free arm around Alex. Isobel's eyes land on his own and she winks. Kyle smiles at her, knowing she's probably been keeping this secret for awhile now because he would have broken immediately and told Alex. Alex can  _ always _ pick up when he's lying, even by omission. 

Michael waits until after they finish eating and everyone is sipping on drinks, milling around the main table. His speech is just as fiercely romantic, heartfelt and teary-eyed as Kyle figured it would be. His flair for grand declarations of love is something Alex eagerly discusses only with Kyle, and  _ only _ when he's consumed copious amounts of alcohol. 

Both of the men are crying when Michael clumsily gets the ring on his new fiancé's shaking finger and gathers him in his arms for a passionate and deeply-felt kiss that no one notices goes on a little too long because everyone is cheering and crying and holding their loved ones closer. Before the proposal began, Isobel found him relaxing in a low cushioned deck chair, dropped herself into his lap, draping her arms around him while nuzzling his neck. It's the sort of public affection she rarely allows for fear of gossip about having moved on too soon in the eyes of Roswell, even though it's been a year and a half since Noah's death. 

Thankfully being with their friends and family has become their safe space, and they can indulge in affection knowing they will only receive rolled eyes and a chorus of groans in response. When everyone is distracted by the joyful aftermath of the proposal, she leans closer and says in a low and unexpectedly tentative voice, “Maybe one day that can be us.”

He looks up at her, awed. She is biting her lip, clearly nervous about his reaction. As if she'd been working up the courage to say it for awhile in order to declare it at this precise moment. They haven't discussed marriage before. He's thought about it, especially in the moments when his mother would glance over at Isobel and frown, inviting another round of one-on-one conversations pleading with her to give Isobel a chance because she's not going anywhere. But he has been prepared to take every step of this relationship as slowly as Isobel needs to. He can only be comfortable knowing she's comfortable, so he has been determined to live in the present without worrying about the future. 

He squeezes the hand she has resting over his heart and runs his other hand up and down her back. “That's something you'd want?”

Her uncertain face breaks out into a dazzling smile and she leans in to rub their noses together and whisper, “It is.”

Surrounded by their friends and family, he kisses her softly and says, “I’d like that.”

  
  



End file.
